Doctors, Gov’t negotiations progressing steadily – Dr. Serebour

Weeks after calling off its month-long strike over the absence of codified conditions of service document, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has revealed that negotiations with the government is progressing steadily.

The General Secretary of the GMA, Dr. Frank Serebour could not confirm to Citi News when a conclusion would be reached on the matter, but was hopeful of a positive outcome considering the discussions so far.

“We’ve had several meetings, we are still talking, I don’t know when we are going to reach an agreement; that one I can’t tell,” he said.

The strike was part of a roadmap outlined by the GMA to resign en bloc if government failed to provide members with codified terms of conditions of service.

But a statement issued by the GMA explained that the decision to suspend their strike was influenced by the appeals from the public and other influential organizations and individuals.

Dr. Frank Serebour added that the Labour Commission is also being involved in the negotiation process to ensure that both parties comply with the regulations provided under the Labour Act.

“The Labour Commission is acting as a form of referee because from time to time we are supposed to report progress to the Commission and see what we’ve done, whether the progress is satisfactory or not and when they have concerns, they will address them,” he stated.

The month-old strike saw the suspension of services in Out-Patient Departments as well as some emergency services.

The government had to rely on the services of some retired doctors and adopt other remedial measures to ease the pressure on the few military and quasi-government health facilities which were in operation during the period of the strike.